Tacoma, WashingtonApril 1956

Insufficient Data

Summary

On April 30, 1956, a civilian in Tacoma, Washington reported seeing an unusual object in the sky during daylight hours. The witness described a slim object about 2 inches wide and 18 inches long with red lights on each end. The object had no wings and made a sound like a piston engine, or possibly two engines. It first headed east, then turned north before disappearing from view. The entire sighting lasted about three minutes.

The U.S. Air Force investigated the case. In their analysis, they noted the object's sound, duration, course, and colored lights. Based on these details, the Air Force concluded the sighting was probably generated by an aircraft. No other details about interviews, radar data, or weather conditions appear clearly in the available file pages.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 17 scanned pages.

Reported location

Tacoma, Washington

Date of incident

April 1956

State / country

WA / US

Page count

17 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 25

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 17

View transcribed text

i 1 YR RE YE A RA rr re ngs remy ie eu EEE, TPR n —— . — poor oa
| PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD i :
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
D Vas Balloon
1 30 April 1956 Tacoma, Washington 0 Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION 0 Possibly Balloon
By EVAR A REC XXGround- Visual 0 Ground-Rador BX ebb a craft
; GMT 01/0633Z 0 Air Visual O Air-Intercept Radar |B Possibly Aircraft
; 5. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical
D Yes ; 0 Probobly Astronomical
MXo Civilian OD Possibly Astronomical
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0 Bik ala ha th
: ; 0 Insufficient Data for Evaluation
2 0 Unknown
three minutes one i
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
One slim object, 2" wide and 18" long| Due to sound » duration, course,
with red light on each end, no wings. | and color lights, this sighting
| | Heading east then turned north. Sound | was probably generated by a/c,
of piston engine(s).
" ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
| | /
g L]

/ 17

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28965463